Sheet-feeding apparatus.



A.1B..DI0K. SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS.

I `FPLIGATION FILED J'ULY23,1913. 1,086,352. Patented Feb. 10, 1914 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. B. DICK. SHEET PBEDING APPARATUS. APPLIOATION FILED JULY 23, 1913.

Patented Feb. 10, 19M.

2 SHBETS-SHEET 2.

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IM Il d TTOHNEYS' WIT/VESSES s seras, rrr

ALBERT s. DICK, or LAKE Fon-usr, immers, Assis-Non To A. B. nien COMPANY, or

,CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION' 0F JLLENOIKS.`

sneer-respinte APPARATUS.

Specifica tion of Letters Patent.

Appncaeen mea. my 2a. i913. serial no. vec .efia

To @ZZ fit-hom, t may] concern Be it known that I, 'Alinear B. Dion, a citizen ofthe United' States, residing at Lake Forest, in the county or" Lake andl -Stute of Illinois, hare invented certain new and useful mprovements inv Sheet-Feeding A-Xpparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention `relates to sheetfeeding apparatus for feeding' sheets successively to u iuachinc for printing, folding or otherwise acting upon the sheets. y

The invention relates more particularly1 to apparatus of this character of the type shown in United States Letters Patent No. 1.054.637 granted to ine February 25, 1913.

The objectof the invention is to effect certain improvements in apparatus of the character shown in the above-mentioned patent to the end that the apparatus is made niortl convenient to use and is more accurate and reliable in its operation.

@ne feature of the invention resides in the provision of certain tension-adjusting` means for regulating' the tensionhetween the fecderroller and the roller which ooacts with the upper surface of the feeder- ,rollur to'forward a sheet after 'the edee of .the sheetA has been buckled by the feeder and carried around upon the upper surface of thel feeder.

'Another feature ofthe invention resides iu the provision of an improved forni of feed-hoard. This involves making' the feedhoard in two parts one of which is stationarily mounted while the other of whichv is pivoted so as to rock upon an axis close to the adjacent edges of the two parts of the feed-hoard. ln this way the up and down movement .of that portion of the sheet-pile which reacts with the feeder can be effected without moving Athe I entire feed-hoard and the eutire'pile thereon with the result that a savingv4 in power is effected and the operation of the machineis made more smooth.

Another feature of theinvention resides in the provision of guides. on the feedfboardfor coaction with the edles of the sheet-pile, which guides are movable to various positions. but are always maintained in a detinite angular relation tothe edges' 'of the feed-hoard. rlhis construction facilitates positioning -the sheet-pile and makes the machine more convenient 'to use. y.

The Apreferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying dra wings in which Figure 1 is a central section of a sheetfeedinp; apparatus, Fig. 2 is an elevation partly in section of one of theparts ofthe feed-board, Fig. 3 is a top View of the Patented Ech. 1h, 1h14;

saine.' Figx 4 is an edge View of the sanne and Fig'. 5 is a detail-sectional View of one A of the guides.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, l have illustrated my improved form of sheet-feeding;- apparatus as used in connection with a stencil-duplicating' machine. This machine includes a stencil-carrying drinn and a pressure roller 7 coaeting therewith and the 'sheets fed by the sheetfeedinp; apparatus are passed between rhe drum and pressure roller which print upon the sheets and forward the sheets between thexn. The drum and pressure roller and sheet-feeding apparatus are mounted yupon iside C)frames 8 which are securedA upon e ase The sheet-feeding apparatus comprises a feed-board and aV rotatable feed-roller overlying the forward end of the feed-hoard and adapted tp coact with the top sheet of the pile to buckle the forward edgev of that sheet and then feed said edge over the upper surface of the feeder-roller. The feeder-roller is shown at 10, it loeing preferably of seen tional form with the several sections lmounted upon a shaft 11 which is journaled for rotation in bearings formed in the side frames S. The feed-hoard consists of two parts mounted edge to edge and one relatively stationary while the other is pivotally mounted. The stationary part of t-lie feedboard consists of aboard 12 which is supported upon two rods 13 and 14 extending between the side frames. For this purpose the board 12 has sheet metal ystrips 15 secured to its under side and bent to the configuration shown so they will coact with the rodsl18 and 14ste hold the board 12 removably in the lposition in which it is shown in Fig. 1. The other part of the feed-board consists of a piece of sheet-metal 16 having ears g1? secured thereto which ears areadapted to turn about the rod 14. As will he seen the edge of the plate lis close to the edge of the board 12 and the upper surfaces of these two parts are in substantially the same plane. The piste 16 is, however, adapted to roch about the exis of the rod Cfr le, which is located close to the adjacent edges ot' the parts l2 and 'i6 of the feed hoard. The plate 16 is rocked hy a earn 'i8 mounted on a shaft 19 which is rotated hy the mechanism employed for rotating the drum 5. This cani 18 aet'uates a lever having an arm 2O carrying a roller 'which rides on the surface et the cam. This lever 'is secured to a shaft 2l adapted te rock in hearings in the side frames of the machine. Another arm 22 out the lever carries a. 'pin 23 which is received in a slot formed in a piece 24 secured to the under side of the plate i6. A coiled spring Q53 is secured. to a suitable abutment 26 and to another arm 27 of the lever aheve mentioned. Y

A stop for the forward edge oi' the sheets of the feed-hoard is shown diagrammatically at 28.

Above the `tecderoroller l is a roller 29 which coacts with the feeder-roller to 'torward a sheet between the two. The shaft roller is carried hv arms 30 secured to a rock-shatt- 31 extending between the side frames of the machine and one end of this shaft has an arm 32 secured thereto carrying a roller which is adapted to ride on the periphery of a cam 33 which is secured to shaft 19. A spring Sli holds the hoiler al ways in engagement with the cam, By this mechanism the roller 29 may he moved up wardly to the position in which it is shown in Fig. l, or downwardly to a which it eoaets with the feeder-roller l() through a sheet. The tension with which the roller 29 hears against the roller 10 through a sheet is made adjustable.V have found that when it .is possible to regulate the pressure between these two rollers, roo-re eiiicient and reliaole results may he olotainedi with paper et different weights. rlihis ad justnent is effected hy means of a cap S5 which is interiorly threaded to receive the threaded upper end of a pin 36 to whose lower end the spring 34 is secured.

ln the operation of the machine a pile of sheet-s is placed upon the feed-hoard con sistingr of parts i2 and 167 with the forward edge of the pile against 'the stopv 28. lDur ing each rotation of the drum 6 the cam 18 is rotated and this causes the part 16 of the eedooard to he rocked downwardly and hack. In this downward movement the pile is carried out of coaction with the feeder l0 and on the upward movement thetop sheet of the pile is carried into Contact with feeder l0. The feeder7 turning in the direction of the arrow thereon, draws the edge of the top sheet haelt from stop and haci-:les that sheet in rear of the roller. As the edge of the sheet passes 'from under roller l0, the tinted surface of' 'the roller catches the edge of the sheetand carrie that edge around 'upon the top surface of the eeder l0. linniediately after the 'feeder enffages the edge "Lil ELEG@ position in@ of the sheet in this manner the. pile is lowered away frein the feeder. As the edge of the sheet is carried over the feeder the roller Q9 comes down 1upon the sheet and thereafter thc continued rotation of roller 1U causes rotation of roller 29 and forwarding of the sheet between these two rollers.

llt will. he seen that hy reason of the special construction ot' the feed-hoard involving making' that hoard in two parts, one of which stationary and the other adapted tor rocking movement7 only)7 the forward edge of the sheet-pile is moved vertiealijv in each operation of the apparatus. By reason of this rocking of hut a part of the feedhoard and moving but a portion of the sheetpile rather than the whole oi? the feedlooard and the whole of the sheet-pile, less poi-wer required to drive the apparatus and the operation of the apparatus is mor smooth rthis construction and arrangement of the parts oi the feed-hoard is particularly ydesirahle in a, machine specialbT constructed so that the movement of' the forward end et' the sheet-pile is the same regardless ,othe thickness of the pile, tor then this movement need only be great enough to carry the top sheet of the pile a verv small distance away from the feeder 10.

The par"l l2 of the ieedhoard is provided 'with guides for coaction with the edges eti the pile et sheets so as to iocate the pile upon the feed-hoard. For this purpose the hoard has strip et sheet-metalSi1 secured thereto and extending across the feed-hoard. T his strip is bent so that the end-portions 88 thereof are slightly above the surface of the feed-hoard as sho-w11 in Fig'. Preferably the intermediate portion of the strip is set into a groove in the hoard as shown in Fie. i.. The said Aguides 39 consist et sheet-metal ieees bent to the cross-section shown in Fig. and slotted as .shown for the passage of the strip To the outer surface oi. each Side @guide are secured two sheet-metal pieces 40 and 41 bent to an angular shape as shown The laterally projecting portions o these pieces are displaced vertically so that one lies above the strip 38 while the other lies helow. The piece 40 has a rectanguiar openina' therein through which the strip 38 passes, the strip fitting" snugly within this openinf. rllhese laterally projecting por tions of the pieces Li0 and il may he nioved toward each other to cause them to Zgrip the strip 38 between them. The outer yends of these portions are lconnected tog-ether on one side of strip bv a rivet i2 which lies in engagement with the strip 38. @n the other side et'A strip 38 a` screw is pro-- videdproiecting upwardly frein the lower piece t0 and through an oiiienina in the up per piece ill. A hand nutael is provided on the threaded portion ot' this screw and. hv tightoning` this the two parte t0 and el may ipseaa be brought together with suiiioient pressure so that they will grip' the strip 38 and hold the guide stationary with respect to strip 38 and hence with respect to the feedboard. It will be noted that since the strip 3S fits tightly in the opening in the piece 40 and since the rivet 4Q- and screw 43 lie in engagement with the edges of the. strip 38 the guide 39 cannot move singularly with respect to strip 38. The side guides 39 may therefore be moved toward and away from each other at will, but will be maintained in parallel relation at all times. `When the desired position of these side guides has been reached they may be locked in that position by tightening the screw sl-it. in end guide 4:5 is provided which is identical in construction with the side guides above described. This end guide is adapted to move lengthwise of the feed-board upon a strip 46 which is secured at its ends to the 'feed-board and passes over the. strip 37 as shown in Fig. l.

vWhat claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows: Y

l. In a sheet-feeding apparatus, the combination. of a eedboard formed in two parts having their upper surfaces in substantial alinement and one of which parts is pivotally mounted near the edge thereof which is adjacent to the other part, a rotatable feeder overlying;` the free end of the pivotally mounted Vpart of the feedboard, and means for rocking the pivotally mounted part of the eedboard to carry the top sheet ot' the pile on the JJteedboard into and out of contact withthe under side of the feeder, substantially as set forth. l

2. In a sheet-feeding apparatus, the coinbination of a eedboard formed in two parts having their upper surfaces in substantial alinement and one of which parts is relatively stationary and substantially horizontally disposed, means for pivotally mounting the other part of the feedboard to rock about an axis adjacent to the adjacent edges of the parts of the feedboard, a rotatable feeder overlying the free end of the pivoted part of the eedboard, a roller movable toward and away from the upper surface of the feeder, a rotatable cam, and means actuated by said cam for rocking tlie pivoted part of the feedboard to carry the pile thereon into and out of Contact with the under side of the feeder, substantially asset forth.

3. In a sheet-feeding apparatus, a. feedboard, a strip secured to 'the upper face thereof and lying parallel to but spaced 'from said upper. face, a guide movable upon said strip and having a wall. disposed perpendicular to the surface of the feedboard, which wall is provided with an opening through which the strip passes, two

sheet-metal pieces seeured to said wall, projecting' laterally therefrom and lying one above and the other below said strip. a connection between said pieces on one side of the strip, and a clampingdevice extending between said pieces on the other side of the strip for drawing said pieces together to cause them to grip said strip, substantially as set forth. A

This specification signed and 'witnessed this 15 day ofJuly, 1913.

ALBERT s. Droit. y

`Witnesses W. G. ARNOLD, W. A. WATERBURY. 

